Seven Nobel Prize-winning economists on Monday called for the implementation of a minimum tax on the wealth of the "ultra-rich" in France, just weeks after the "Zucman tax" was rejected by the French Senate. The call comes as the French government looks for new revenue sources to balance its strained public finances.
"With the tax on the ultra-rich, France has the opportunity, once again, to show the way to the rest of the world," wrote the Nobel prize laureates in anop-edpublished Monday by the French daily newspaper Le Monde.
Among them are the 2024Nobellaureates in economics Daron Acemoglu and Simon Johnson, the 2019 winners Esther Duflo and Abhijit Banerjee, the 2001 laureates George Akerlof and Joseph Stiglitz, as well as the 2008 laureate Paul Krugman, most of whom are American.
According to these internationally recognised economists, "the ultra-rich are particularly prosperous in France. Global billionaires hold wealth equivalent to 14 percent of the planets GDP, according to Forbes magazine; the French hold nearly 30 percent of Frances GDP in wealth."
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Wealth tax
Taxing wealth through a minimum tax expressed as a percentage "is effective because it targets all forms of tax optimisation, whatever their nature," the economists continue.
"It is targeted because it mainly affects, among the wealthiest taxpayers, those who resort to tax optimisation."
This text comes after a wealth tax targeting the ultra-rich, known as the 'Zucman tax', was rejected in June by the French Senate.
The bill was inspired by French economist Gabriel Zucman, who planned to apply a "differential contribution" targeting wealth over 100 million euros. The bill was initially adopted by the National Assembly, mainly backed by supporters of the government and left-wing MPs.
The goal was to ensure that the ultra-rich pay at least two percent of their fortune intax, thereby preventing tax avoidance effects observed among some multimillionaires.
This bill sparked a lively debate between economists who were in favor and those strongly opposed to the measure.
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The authors also praise the international discussions moving in this direction and the proposal at theG20to establish a global minimum tax on billionaires equivalent to 2 percent of their wealth.
"The international movement has begun," they write, believing that "there is no reason to wait for the finalisation of an international agreement; on the contrary, we must work towards it by setting an example, as France has done in the past" with the introduction of VAT in 1954.
(with AFP)
Originally published on RFI
